Substantial amounts of wastewater are generated by oilfield and other underground drilling operations. Typically, this wastewater requires treatment before it can be released, in order to comply with applicable standards. However, even following treatment, release of the water may be problematic. There may be no suitable body of water to release it into, or it may be in amounts above those allowed by law. This can lead to paying for the water to be removed by truck at a considerable expense.
Because of these difficulties, there have been several attempts to dispose of produced water by releasing it into the atmosphere as steam. Some examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,971,238, 7,251,939, and 7,845,314. The disclosures of each of these references are incorporated herein in their entireties. However, these approaches often require complicated setups for using the steam for another purpose.
An apparatus, system, or method that allowed for easy disposal of the treated produced water at a lower cost would be an improvement in the art. Such an apparatus or system that was easily portable to move as field conditions change would be a further improvement in the art.